I DARE THE MILITARISTS TO LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE THE ISSUE OF CONSCRIPTION
Johnson, Sen. Edwin C.
I Dare The Militarists To Let The People Decide The Issue Of Conscription By SEN. EDWIN C. JOHNSON (Ranking Member, Senate Military Affairs Committee) Washington, D. C. THE launching of public...
...A Fascist without an Army is as impotent as a bandit without a "rod...
...Certainly Congress should examine the backers of the proposal and explore some of their motives...
...Once we recognize the professional Army officer's interest in a great peacetime military establishment, we can begin to think more clearly about the issue as a whole...
...I want to await the peace terms...
...pay the men something, teach them something, and Uncle Sam will be swamped with volunteers...
...Compulsory military training has another frightful weakness...
...In the formative period of their development, young men are delicate pieces of machinery...
...We cannot quarrel with their objective but first we should determine what constitutes a good national defense...
...In the midst of this all-out war the Army and Navy have placed thousands of men in American colleges to study engineering and the basic sciences...
...Let the people of the United States decide that issue then...
...Little wonder American educators are shocked to see Congress contemplate such a gigantic sum for one single year of basic military training...
...Suddenly remove the restrictions and its victims flounder...
...It is most natural for the men graduated by Military and Naval Academies to believe that the Army and Navy are the most important tilings on earth, and that is precisely why we cannot rely on their judgment on a major issue involving so many non-military factors capable of revolutionizing the whole American way of life...
...The veterans will be home...
...EDWIN C. JOHNSON (Ranking Member, Senate Military Affairs Committee) Washington, D. C. THE launching of public hearings on peacetime conscription before the House Military Affairs Committee this week focuses the eyes of America on one of the great and fundamental battles in all our internal history...
...A point that is usually overlooked in this connection is that the spectator gains almost as much from competitive sports as does the participant...
...Certainly before adopting such a system the Congress will ponder well and weigh carefully its military, psychological, economic, political, and social effect...
...Long experience has proved that both physical fitness and the democratic concept are more readily attained through competitive sports...
...Many attempts are being made to shush us up...
...Contrary to public opinion there is always time after a war starts to arrange for it if we have a good organization from which to begin...
...Before the war we had fewer than 20,000...
...Such a measure, if adopted, would affect not only our traditional military policy and the Nation's domestic economy, but would change overnight our international relationships and perhaps in a short time convert us into a predatory country...
...Many of these new officers want to remain in military service...
...Nations and persons suffer from war dementia...
...It is a moving, fascinating, emotional, appealing tempo and it has taken hold of a large sector of our citizens...
...Competitive sports not only provide a safety valve for school and community rivalry, but they have made America the land of good sportsmanship...
...In peace time there have always been an abundance of voluntary enlistments for military service...
...Country clubs have nothing on Army camps...
...As was said of Prussia long ago, the United States then will not be a nation that has an Army, but will be an Army that has a nation...
...If 2 million youngsters receive military training each year the cost will approximate 4 billion dollars...
...It is so easy then to upset their lives and get them off the beam...
...Discipline that is really worthwhile is self-imposed discipline...
...Then, we have the rapidly growing American militarist party...
...Britain...
...Well trained, well disciplined, resourceful, imaginative, and vigorous manpower is certainly a factor...
...We have done a good job in training our young folks for every military and civil contingency without compulsory military training...
...We are being told-that the subject of compulsory military training should be left to the War and Navy Departments for decision, that ordinary human beings are not equipped to understand the problem...
...Numerous privately operated military schools scattered over the nation, the ROTC and the CMTC and our own military academies, Annapolis and West Point, have given us the greatest military leaders in all the world and in all the world's history...
...Furthermore, our State and War Departments should develop an International Intelligence Corps so that there might never be another re-armament program or a military development of a technical nature any place in the world without our full knowledge...
...Hitler catered to the Junkers, Mussolini to the Italian military clique and Tojo to the Japanese militarists...
...We should have in constant training 100,000 carefully hand-picked aviators in peacetime if a good national defense is what we want...
...A year in a boot camp would help many and ruin many, just as military service always has ruined countless young men...
...Physical education is important to a good national defense, but very little of it can be absorbed in one year of compulsory military training...
...Make such service attractive...
...If we get a bad peace...
...America has a well-organized group of capitalists —the dollar diplomacy crowd—who are looking the world over right now for profitable investments for themselves and their clients...
...Against Mexico...
...Then, against whom are we rearming...
...Certainly not against Germany and Japan...
...By that time the present wars will have ended...
...our judgments better...
...I dare the proponents of compulsory military training to leave the decision to the people...
...Why substitute goose-stepping for a character-building system such as this...
...This is a basic question of policy which must be determined by the people, through their elected representatives, and not by a military bureaucracy bent on maintaining and even enlarging its grasp on the nation...
...Against whom do we need a gigantic army of foot soldiers anyway...
...The excitement and glory of war, the stirring drum beat, the irresistible rythmn of marching men, the decorated breast, the acclaim of impressionable feminines, the uniforms and medals and citations do things to the heart strings...
...if Germany and Japan are not made impotent to wage war again...
...Goose-Stepping Routine Many patriotic citizens who have not taken time to think the thing through, mistakenly favor compulsory military training as being a good national defense since the times demand security...
...At present we have hundreds of thousands of commissioned officers (Army, 767,667, Navy, 274,448...
...Why substitute Fascism for Democracy...
...When military disciplinary restrictions and restraints are lifted, we may anticipate a wave of irresponsible conduct...
...But a good national defense must envision far more than manpower...
...Two major wars in one generation have had their effect...
...That United States become a totalitarian state is their passion, and the one way to accomplish that objective is down the deadly road of militarism...
...As a matter of fact, basic military training represents the least of our military problems...
...The American doughboy is the cream of the crop...
...Wars always breed strong militarist sentiment...
...This training should begin at a very tender 'teen age and should be on a voluntary basis...
...The Military Mind I have had exceptional opportunities to watch the military mind in action...
...It is their purpose to exploit the world's supplies of natural resources and by utilizing foreign cheap labor seize the world's markets...
...A Question For The People American Fascists and American Imperialists, and •we do have them in quantity, pin all their faith on military force...
...When the Johnnies come marching home—and may God speed the day!—we will discover that many have been emotionally upset and others absolutely ruined...
...America leads the world in competitive sports...
...Approximately 2,500,000 girls and boys become 18 years of age each year in the United States...
...Our heads will be cooler...
...They must have the protection of our flag...
...Nationalists are the super-patriots who feel their country is never in the wrong, and who want a great conscript army to take the place of international cooperation and a give-and-take diplomacy...
...Good salaries, generous retirement provisions, few cares and responsibilities, pleasant surroundings, orderlies and yes-men, security even in the midst of depression, parties galore, and plenty of time for everything...
...Our grade schools, high schools, and colleges have made our Army what it is...
...Personally, I want to await the return of the veteran...
...Why shouldn't these officers be for compulsory military training which would enhance their chances of getting and holding a nice, soft, secure job...
...Therefore, they would have a conscript American army to awe and put the fear of God in puny foreign rulers...
...Future wars will be won by marching science and marching resources directed by skilled technicians, and not by the number of marching men...
...The graduate should not only be a perfectly trained pilot, but he should have mastered also the science of aeronautics in all of its phases...
...It should comprise a complete educational course in aeronautics, thorough in theory and thorough in actual practice...
...In 1946 the United States will elect a new Congress...
...Such a course would likely require 4 or 5 years to complete...
...Here is the supreme challenge for the progressive forces of America— to stand up and fight it out with the powerful spokesmen for special privilege and the scheming agents of a brass-hat militarism who are determined to ram this un-American program through Congress while the nation is still fighting a major war, and while millions of American boys in uniform are denied the right to speak up and take a stand...
...Compulsory military training in peacetime is one of the most revolutionary and far-reaching steps ever proposed for the United States...
...Certainly "unconditional surrender" will not permit war machines in those countries to rebuild...
...It works well in war while rigid restrictions are necessary...
...Might and might alone is all that really counts with them...
...There are hundreds of thousands of young men who are anxious for military service just as there are hundreds of thousands of young men who want to be farmers or mechanics or teachers or scientists...
...An Issue For 1946 If national security requires a larger Army and Navy than we had before the war, let's have them by all means...
...Another large group advocating compulsory military training is composed of the so-called nationalists...
...Russia...
...War hysteria will have subsided...
...Contrary to popular conception, nationalists are seldom pacifists, but more often than not are to be found in the war-mongering ranks...
...From where I sit on the Senate Military Affairs Committee I have been able to learn a great deal about the functioning of our military hierarchy...
...In peacetime Army officers live the life of Riley...
...The National Guard specializing in making military training available to boys in their own home towns has proved its worth...
...The church, the fraternities, the luncheon clubs, and the traditional high moral standard and atmosphere of American community and family life have given us the greatest Army and Navy on earth...
...I know of no nation or no people challenging our leadership in quality of manpower which we have developed in the traditional American way without eompulsory military training...
...Elementary and secondary schools and colleges should expand their facilities to the limit to provide for a real physical educational program...
...Let the proponents answer...
...China...
...South America...
...The conscriptors see for America glorious and stern military discipline—unyielding, brutal and domineering, enforcing the will of a benevolent and inspired leader...
...The reason for this is that military discipline is an imposed discipline and is not therefore character-building...
...if the peace terms should produce a new crop of bitter world rivals and should, for instance, make Britain and Russia mortal enemies— then I shall vote and work for every defense measure that the seriousness of the situation might require...
...Gunners, radar operators, chemists, engineers, and other military technicians should be trained thoroughly in quantity from carefully selected volunteer personnel...
...The total annual cost of all elementary, secondary, and college education, public and private, in the entire United States is only $3,181,364,876 per year...
...Military training today costs the taxpayers about $2,000 per trainee...
...Nonsense...
...Let the question of compulsory military training become the issue in 1946...
Vol. 9 • June 1945 • No. 24
